When you’ve just gone into a ditch on the San Diego County freeway, Thomas Weller is the stranger that you’ll wish for. He cruises the freeway looking for people who need help and he doesn’t get paid for it.

NPR featured him on StoryCorps recently and his story was so inspiring that it moved me to tears. Weller knows how important a stranger can be in a person’s life.

His dedication to others began with his own childhood story. His mother told him not to drive his car during a blizzard but he did it anyway and ended up in a snow bank. If it hadn’t been for a kind stranger that stopped to help him, he would probably have frozen to death. That was back in 1964. He’s been called an “angel” countless times by many of the people he’s reached out to. He doesn’t consider himself one, but I do.